Exams and Gradingfor Faculty and Instructors

Policy

The Academic Courses Policy on Class Delivery, Examinations, and Assessment of Student Learning prescribes university-level requirements for delivery of academic courses, and the assessment of student learning including conduct of examinations.

Exam Scheduling

Scheduling process

The instructor fills out an examination information sheet on PAWS; available in August (for December exams) and in December (for April exams).

Preliminary exam schedule will be produced and instructors will gain access to view schedule. This will occur at the end of September (for December exams) and at the end of January (for April exams).

Final exam schedule is released to the campus community in October (for December exams) or February (for April exams).

Once final exams have been written, instructors must submit the final grades (maximum 5 business days after the exam).

Examination information sheets

The exams office uses the information collected to build the exam schedule. It is particularly important that instructors report any common exams (two or more sections or classes writing the same exam at the same time and day) on the exam info sheet. If you cannot access the exam info sheet, then please contact your department to ensure you have been added as an instructor in the system.

Classes numbered 898 and higher are scheduled by instructors and not by the exams office and, therefore, do not require an examination info sheet completed.

Dates, times, location, and exam exemptions

Changes to dates or times

Once the exams office has scheduled final examinations for a term, instructors wanting to change the date and/or time of their final examination must obtain the consent of all students (100% of the class) according to procedures established by the registrar, as well as authorization from the department head, or dean in non-departmentalized colleges. The exams office will then try to accommodate this approved change but due to many constraints may not be able to do so.

Location changes

Changes may be made if the room is unsuitable. Please check your room before the exam date and the exams office will see if changing the room is possible. This is not guaranteed.

Off-campus exams

The exams office will not schedule an exam to be off-campus for on-campus classes.

Exam exempt course

You may not add an exam to an exam exempt course or remove an exam from a class that is not exam exempt. You must first obtain approval from your department head (or college office in a non-departmentalized college) and this must be done before classes are open for registration for that term.

Faculty unavailable for exam date

If you are not available on the date of your final exam, you must arrange invigilation coverage through your department or college office for non-departmentalized colleges. The exams office schedules thousands of exams for nearly 20,000 students. It is not easy to reschedule a scheduled examination therefore it is the responsibility of the instructor to arrange for invigilation coverage.

Faculty religious conflicts

The university tries to avoid any religious conflicts for instructors. Early in the exam scheduling process instructors will be asked to fill out an exam information sheet. On this form they will be asked if there are any dates which we cannot schedule an exam due to religious conflicts. Instructors can fill this out and we will not schedule an exam for them on that day.

Special accommodation for students

Student religious conflict

If a student has an exam scheduled on a religious holiday and needs the date changed, they must submit an application in PAWS at least three weeks prior to start of the exam period. Once students have completed this process, the exams office will contact the instructor and arrange an alternate date for the student. The exam may be invigilated by the instructor or the exams office. The student will be informed of the new exam date by email or phone.

Accommodations for students with disabilities

The university community as a whole has a responsibility to provide accommodations and supports to assist students with disabilities to succeed. The DSS Exam Program assists both instructors and students by providing exam accommodations to eligible students.

Deferred and supplemental exams

All deferred and supplemental or special supplemental exams must be approved by the college. The college must notify the student, instructor and in the case of approval, the registrar of its decision.

Approval deadlines and invigilation arrangements

Please refer to the Academic Courses Policy in regard to deadlines and arrangements surrounding the approval and invigilation process.

Providing the exams office with deferred/supplemental exam

Exam must be supplied one week prior to start of the deferred/supplemental exam session. If the exam has not been received by this deadline, exams office will issue one reminder. If the exam is still not received, the arrangement for invigilation will be the responsibility of the instructor/department.

Information such as the length of time allowed for the exam, open/closed book, and any other special instruction (eg: if a formula sheet or calculator are allowed, etc) should be supplied in a cover sheet for the deferred/supplemental exam.

Computer based exams cannot be accommodated during the regular supplemental/deferred exam period.

It is recommended that you create a new final exam. However, check with your college and department guidelines.

Exam Rules and Invigilation

Instructor arrival time

﻿Instructors need to arrive 30 minutes prior to the examination time. Arriving 30 minutes early allows you time to get the room ready, hand out exams, and have students seated by the time the exam is scheduled to start. In a gym or large classroom, it can take 5-10 minutes to get students seated. If you plan on handing out exams after students are seated, please bring assistants to help you.

Instructor is late to or misses the scheduled final exam

The instructor must call the exams office immediately or contact their department secretary. Students are waiting and if extra time is needed to give the students full time, we may have to negotiate with the room owner to see if we can have any additional time. This is not guaranteed.

Student examination issues

The Academic Courses Policy refers to the “30-minute rule” which clarifies when students may be refused entry to a final examination. A student who is denied admission must apply to their college for a deferred examination.

A student should remain in the examination for 30 minutes after the start of an examination. Students who need to leave the examination room for any reason require permission from the invigilator. If a student leaves without permission, an incident report may be filled out by the invigilator. It is then the decision of the instructor to pursue an academic misconduct charge following the guidelines in the Academic Courses Policy.

Students will then have to present themselves with a student ID card or other acceptable government-issued photographic identification to the instructor (invigilator) within two working days of the examination.

The student must arrange accommodations with the instructor and a permission to travel form will need to be completed and signed. Denials of accommodation will be appealed to the Dean of the instructor’s college.

Electronic devises, including wearable technology (electronic watches, glasses, etc), are not allowed in the gyms unless specifically designated as allowed by the professor. Dictionaries should be paper based and all phones should not be brought into the exam. If a phone is accidentally brought into the exam, it must be turned off and stored in a backpack underneath the desk, and never stored on the person. Students cannot take cell phones into the washroom.

An incident report will be created if an exam proctor observes a student with unauthorized material. It is then the decision of the instructor to pursue an academic misconduct charge following the guidelines in the Academic Courses Policy.

Grading and Assessment of Students

Entering, changing and approving grades

Submission deadline of final grade

Final grades must be entered into PAWS/SiRIUS and approved within five (5) working days (not counting Saturday, Sunday or holidays) of the final exam, or no later than the end of the examination period for those classes with no examination.

It is the instructor’s and department’s responsibility to ensure that grades are submitted by the grade submission deadline. If for any reason the deadline will not be met, please advise exams office.

Third Party Exam Invigilation

The exams office coordinates third party exam invigilation for students from other institutions. Invigilators are representatives of our university and are capable and experienced in invigilating exams.

our invigilation hours are Monday through Thursday at 9 am or 1 pm

we do not invigilate exams on the weekend

students must contact our office to schedule an exam and are responsible for contacting their institution to have their exams sent to our office

the cost is $100 per exam per student and is payable on the day of the exam

exams that run longer than 3.5 hours will be subject to additional charges

Corporate Rates

Students

Cost

1-5

$100 per student

6-10

$500 plus $50 for every additional student over 5

11+

$750 plus $30 for every additional student over 10

courier and printing fees are extra

we provide one invigilator for groups of 1-5 students and two invigilators for groups of 6 or more students

the number of students must be confirmed by 5 business days prior to the exam, at which time the cost is locked in

payment is expected for all confirmed students, even those who do not attend

Examination Office - Registrarial Services

For information about exams, deferred and supplemental exams, and grading.